It is well known to utilize one or more deployable airbags in a vehicle in order to protect one or more occupants of the vehicle in case of a collision. A frontal protection airbag for a driver of the vehicle may e.g. be located in a driving wheel in order to protect the driver. A frontal protection airbag for a passenger may be located in a portion of a dashboard in front of the front seat passenger in order to protect the front seat passenger.
It is also known to use an additional airbag, which is stored in a position between a driver seat and a passenger front seat. When deployed, the additional airbag may cover the interspace between the driver and the front seat passenger, which may be useful to protect the driver and/or the front seat passenger in case of an oblique crash scenario involving the vehicle. The additional airbag may cooperate with the frontal protection airbag of the driver and/or passenger and may be helpful, if the driver or the front seat passenger e.g. misses or slides off the frontal protection airbag. See for example patent document U.S. Pat. No. 8,882,138 B1.
In modern vehicles, an accessory or a piece of equipment, such as a mobile phone, tablet computer or touchscreen, may be located at the dashboard and/or at a centre console, e.g. comprised in the dashboard, fixedly attached to the dashboard or in a specialized holder, to be within easy reach for the driver and/or the front seat passenger. The accessory or piece of equipment may be substantially flush with the dashboard or may protrude from the dashboard. The piece of equipment may be comprised in an infotainment system of the vehicle, e.g. a touchscreen for controlling the infotainment system.
In a vehicle, which is at least partially automated, the driver can spend some of his/her attention on other tasks than driving, such as using the mobile phone, tablet computer or touchscreen. Therefore, it may be expected, that the use of such accessories or equipment will be even more frequent in vehicles in the future. However, in case of a collision, such an accessory or such a piece of equipment may pose a threat to an occupant of the vehicle, i.e. the driver, the front seat passenger or another passenger, if the accessory or piece of equipment is thrown around in the vehicle compartment and possibly thrown onto the vehicle occupant.
In oblique crash scenarios comprising oblique impact and/or off road scenarios, e.g. according to a proposed new United States New Car Assessment Program (U.S. NCAP) standard with an impact angle of 15 degrees, the occupant of a vehicle according to known technology risks missing or sliding off the frontal protection airbag resulting in a head impact on interior parts at a central region of the dashboard, i.e. a region of the dashboard being located at the dashboard vertically above the centre console and laterally between the driver and the front seat passenger. There may also be a problem with high BrIC values, i.e. Brain Injury Criteria values, due to an initial contact with the frontal protection airbag before sliding off. It has therefore been suggested to use wider and/or larger airbags. However, wider and/or larger airbags introduce other problems, like increasing the risk of accessories or equipment at the dashboard being torn off and thrown away by the deploying airbag.
There is thus a desire to provide an improved protection of the vehicle occupant.